NSW Labor supports a moratorium on coal seam gas: What about the Qld ALP?

Published: November 09, 2011

The New South Wales Labor Party is now supporting a moratorium on all Coal Seam Gas exploration licenses, the issuing of coal seam gas extraction licenses and applications to expand existing operations

The leader of the NSW Labor Opposition, John Robertson stated that, until a water-tight regulatory framework is in place based on independent scientific research and conclusive evidence, the government should not be allowing coal seam gas mining to proceed.

This new development could ensure the NSW Greens bill imposing a moratorium on coal seam gas development passes the state upper house. This will put enormous pressure on the Coalition government.

President of the lock the Gate Alliance, Drew Hutton, said it was now time for the Queensland ALP to do the same.

"The coal seam gas industry threatens this state's underground water and much of its productive farm land, it will cause the clearing of tens of thousands of hectares of native vegetation and is undoubtedly implicated in the ecosystem collapse in Gladstone harbour," Mr Hutton said.

"This is all the result of the Queensland government rushing into giving these companies their approvals before they knew what the likely impacts would be and how to mitigate them.

"The Bligh government must now admit, as their New South Wales counterparts have, that they got it wrong and call a moratorium on the whole coal seam gas industry.

"This will give us all time to properly assess the impacts of this giant new industry. Water experts can assess the impacts of gas and water extraction from the Great Artesian Basin, ecologists can assess the impacts on biodiversity from the woodland clearing and fragmentation and marine biologists can get to the bottom of what is occurring in Gladstone harbour."